


The Bell

by Arcadia_Lumina



Category: Winged Shepherd
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2018-08-24 15:02:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8376634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcadia_Lumina/pseuds/Arcadia_Lumina
Summary: The bell that tolls last tolls loudest.





	

The bell rang twice for the family on that day. Two shrill, piercing, endless tones that separated them from the world around them. That encased the Lupin family in a bubble of otherwise carelessness to the world around them.

For Renariel Lupin, at 9:00AM on a crisp Saturday morning, his childhood world ended.

The boy woke up dressed in pyjamas his mother had picked out for him, one arm grasping at his dog teddy known as "Mr Bark". One hand reached up to rub his weary eyes from the peaceful, unperturbed sleep of the previous night, a night ending with hot cocoa and a kiss from his mother. Daddy, as his mother said, had not come home because he was "away on a business trip". Daddy had been gone for a week, and the reasoning made sense in little Ren's childish mind, the boy not accustomed to second guessing his parents (that would come later, as a teenager.)

The bell rang at 9:00AM, just as little Ren was eating his favourite high-sugar cereal, his eyes cast to the living room, watching his favourite children's cartoon. Just as his brother Skylar let out another snore from his bedroom. Just as his mother was cleaning the kitchen. Her eyes were focused, yet slowly drifting from task. Something was distracting her. Was it the noise from the television? It couldn't have been, as she had gotten used to the droning of breakfast television and the shows her sons watched. Something was itching at the back of her mind, niggling, prodding, washing a sense of forboding over her body. Her husband had gone missing, and the police had assured her a week ago that they would do everything in their power to find him. To reassure her that the family she held so close would not splinter.

Her worry was not unfounded. The bell rang, and she got up from cleaning to answer it. Little Ren wandered into the kitchen to find his mother, and, seeing her moving toward the door, he followed her, careful to not make any noise. The kid had a penchant for being nosy, which he seemed to have gotten from his mother. The bell had tolled it's last toll. Renariel's mother opened the door slowly. Her mouth turned up slightly, in the pretence of what could have been a smile, if there had been anything to smile about.

The officer, to Ren, looked intimidating, A figure draped in dark cloth, wearing a cap the colour of monsters that hid under children's beds, ready to gobble them up. To Ren, the man in front of him was a monster, and his mother was the last bastion of defence against him.

"Mrs. Lupin?" The officer spoke, his voice calm, sardonic, He removed his cap, and suddenly the monstrous quality he had evaporated, and Ren wandered closer, just behind his mother's leg, peeking out at the officer. The little boy grasped the leg of his mother's pants, and she looked down suddenly at him and frowned lightly, not in a scolding manner, but more in a motherly act of protection. "Renny, go into the living room. The adults have to speak." His mother exclaimed, a huffing sigh escaping her lips as the boy refused to let go. 

"Yes, Officer?" She stated, her eyes widening slowly. To the officer, Renariel's mother was hopeful. Her eyes were lit with belief and hope, and seeing this, the man let out a deep sigh. 

"I'm sorry." The officer spoke. "Your husband..."

"Your husband is dead."

With one sentence, the police officer had destroyed the Lupin family. He had inadvertently eradicated that spark of hope from Giselle Lupin's eyes, He had torn the very air from her lungs, and she stood as if she had been winded. Her polite smile dropped immediately. Her eyes almost became hollow, devoid of life, as she began to cry. "No....no...no." She repeated to herself, knowing her son was behind her. Knowing that if the news broke her, it would split her son in two, and destroy him. But she could feel it, the building sobs wracking her body with shivers, her mouth still repeating those same words, as if her disbelief would make the news dissipate into the air.

But it did not. Giselle Lupin, a woman as strong in mind and heart as her husband was in body, gave into the luxury of grief.

In front of her son, her Ren, and the police officer, she broke down.

Her body was wracked by sobs, her mind detached from the rest of her body as she gave into grief, her wails carrying across the suburbs as Ren looked up at the officer, in that same wide eyed disbelief, and the officer looked down at the child.

A solitary tear escaped the police officer's eye, as he watched the world crumble around Ren and Giselle, and he himself was the harbinger of this total and complete devestation of their happiness. He watched as the child, Ren, began to wail in horrific chorus with his mother, and he knew, in a sinister, sarcastic and evil way, that his duty had been completed. He held his cap to his chest, and bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

The police officer left, having destroyed the hope of the Lupin family. Only Renariel and Giselle would know the scars that the day held.

Only Ren would walk down a dark path, which would start with this day.

Only Ren would meet a man who changed his life forever.

Only Ren would know, truly, what hope felt like. What hopelessness felt like.

Only Ren.


End file.
